January British Prime Minister advises Pakistan to
refrain from setting up nuclear reprocessing plant

Judgement Day

March 18 The Lahore High Court has sentenced Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto and other defendants in the Kasuri murder case to death, under
section 120-b and 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Bhutto must also pay
25,000 rupees compensation or undergo six months rigorous imprisonment.
The judgement has been drafted by Justice Aftab Hussain.

Press under fire

In the face of renewed pressure on the press and journalists,
the PFUJ and APNEC have launched an agitation campaign. Several journalists
who gathered from all over the country to participate in a hunger strike
at the offices of the banned paper, Musawat, have been forced onto planes
by the authorities and sent back. Some have even been awarded severe punsihments
by speedy courts.

June. US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance has clarified
the three major points in the US position on Pakistan to the Pakistani
Foreign Minister Agha Shahi. (1) The US is concerned over the communist
influence in Afghanistan and willing to send its high-level official to
Pakistan for discussing the situation; (2) the territorial integrity of
Pakistan - as of all countries - were important to the US in view of the
UN Charter and the CENTO; but (3) the differences between the US and Pakistan
over Pakistan's projected nuclear reprocessing plant must be resolved;
if these were resolved, the US economic and military aid could resume
or even be enhanced and US might sell arms to Pakistan again.

The tough US position on the nuclear issue dampens General
Zia's hopes for gaining wholesale American sympathies in view of the growing
Russian influence in Afghanistan. Conspicuously, the US government has
refrained from placing on the agenda the bad human rights record of General
Zia or the absence of democracy in Pakistan. This despite the fact in
the US there is a general outcry in the media and among the public on
these issues.

From Russia, with love...

July Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who recently headed a high-level
delegation to Moscow, says the country's relationship with the Soviet
Union is a "basic principle" of Pakistan's foreign policy.

September
16 After nominating himself president, General Zia takes oath of office
today. He has promised to step down "as soon as a suitable man is
found" for the job.

Provincial martial law administrators will be appointed
governors.

Silk route

Karakoram Highway, linking Northern Areas with China,
was inaugurated on June 18.

Government offices directed to write
'bismillah-e- rehman-ir-rahim'
at the beginning of all correspondence

Golden days

Under Islahuddin, Pakistan retain hockey gold at the Bangkok
Asian Games and reclaim the Hockey World Cup at Buenos Aires.

Silenced!

December 28 Poet Josh Malihabadi has been blacklisted
from radio and television because of a controversial interview on religion
and Pakistan published in the rightist monthly, Zindagi. The interview
is said to have been given to Radio Pakistan in 1974, with permission
for posthumous broadcasting only. Mahmood Azam Farooqui, Jamaat-e-Islami
affiliated information minister, is suspected to have instigated its publication
ahead of time.